Who is Phanin...and where did the bakery go?
Who is Phanin? And what happened to the bakery called ‘Madeleine Patisserie’?
Let's get to know Phanin and the bakery once called “Madeleine Patisserie”🥪🥖
To our new subscribers - welcome to our emotional roller coaster and completely unfiltered bite size stories 🤪 Phanin is our hero to this fairy tale. When he first set foot in Sydney - or so called “land of opportunities” - Boy was he surprised that his expectations were WRONG!! 🤣🤣🤣
Phanin tied the knot with his wife's Savin (my sister - who happens to be ABSOLUTELY nothing like me 🤪) back in the late 1990s in Cambodia. Their marriage was arranged between his father and my father, and according to his dad he was a wild child and needed to be tamed 🤯 A few months later, Savin flew to Cambodia did what my parents asked of her and that was that - Phanin and Savin got married. Yet people say relationships are hard to find 🤪 Phanin had no idea what love really meant back then until he was granted a partnership visa to migrate to Australia in 2001. Boy was it a shock to his system. It made Pol Pot seem reasonable! 😭
7 days a week he flogged himself working
From 5:00 am he arrived at work for a 5:30am opening, and that went on until 7pm each night for 15 FLIPPIN YEARS - with the exception of Sunday, getting to close at 5:00 pm. Phanin sold instant Nescafe Blend43 for $1.20,as well as pies, sausages rolls and sandwiches 🥪 Like the rest of my family his birth date was made up to avoid getting conscripted to the communist army, and I remember him telling me many times how he wished he never fell in love 😉 The amount of times he wished he could return home. But instead he held on!! Because that is what we were made to do. To go through thick or thin, good or bad. We are taught to not walk away from each other. And above all as immigrants back then, it was either be self employed or take on a factory job that is not much more than just enough for rental income.
Migration was meant for a richer and greater lifestyle …
Instead it was like watching "A Series of Unfortunate Events. To start off, he didn't speak a word of English. They lived above the grocer (immigrant cliche😳). He also had to do 520hrs ESL in Fairfield which means on top of his 14 hour days, he also had to go out on the train and buses for 3 hours - then return all for 2 hours of an English class session 😭
Fast forward 4 years…
Phanin was able to afford to buy a house in Smithfield, got his driver's licence and bought a car. This is where another journey REALLY began. He only took one route that he managed to feel comfortable to drive on when he travelled to and from work! And that's The Hume Highway….if there was a road closure it meant that his wife had to work alone in the shop and he won't be happy when she sees him after work 🤪
To this day, 18 years later, Hume Highway is the ONLY route he takes. This poor guy loves what he’s comfortable with a touch of fishing. His wife does the driving 🚗 and he brings home the fish ( So if he misbehaves it will cost him a fishing trip 🤣) Hence he is always well behaved and to this day he remains my favourite in-law…❤️
Then, Phanin and I got the deal that lead us to where we are at…
When it came to my major life change, I offered Phanin a deal he couldn’t resist. It not only saved his business but also gave him a new life with only 5 days a week of work - giving him a well deserved rest! For the both of us, it was a win win - except nowadays he only works 4 days, sometimes 3 and lots of holidays - don’t know if he still deserves it but it will stay this way for now 🤪❤️
For now, Phanin will keep his cruisy lifestyle, and we will see you next fortnight for our next bite sized story 🤩😆
